It doesn’t quack like most lame ducks

Congress has been returning for lame-duck sessions after every election since 1998. Before the streak started a decade ago, lame ducks were rare (between 1954 and 1994, there were only a handful of post-election sessions).

Lawmakers usually tackle appropriations in lame-ducks, along with other leftover legislative items.

But this year, all spending bills have been put off until President-elect Obama is in the Oval Office.

A financial rescue package for the auto industry is on the agenda, and there will also be talk of an economic stimulus bill. But neither appears to have the votes to pass the Senate.

While news changes rapidly on Capitol Hill, it appears that the 2008 lame-duck will not be productive and there will be many lame jokes soon about how the lame-duck was lame.

President Bush wants to pass the Colombian trade deal, which is strongly opposed by union officials who went all-out to get Obama elected. Unless something highly unusual happens, the Colombia trade deal will not get out of the 110th Congress alive.

This year, the big stories that come out of the lame-duck will be about personnel.

Will Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) snatch the Energy and Commerce Committee gavel from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.)?

Will Democrats strip Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship for campaigning for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president? Will Lieberman continue to caucus with Senate Democrats, or will he switch sides?

What will Republicans do this week with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who has been convicted in a corruption trial and whose reelection race has still not been called?

After an election, there is much talk about putting campaign politics aside and focusing on governing. But with some House and Senate races still up in the air, and questions about Lieberman, Stevens and the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee still lingering, governing is not front and center.

Some Democrats prefer it that way. Why pass yet another bill that Bush would veto?

Many lobbyists, especially those who work on behalf of the nation’s auto industry, argue that waiting until 2009 is not a viable option. Yet that is what Congress probably will do.

There will be much debate this week about various economic policies, and there will also be political intrigue about Stevens, Lieberman, Dingell and Waxman.

Congressional policymaking, however, will probably take a backseat until next year.